Hawks-Pacers Preview

By MICHAEL MAROTPosted May 02 2014 6:17PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Paul George spent much of Friday worried about whether he'd be suspended for Game 7 against Atlanta.

Not a chance.

Less than an hour after wrapping up practice, an NBA spokesman confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that league officials reviewed the tapes from Thursday night's altercation and determined none of the players who stepped onto the court would be punished for the decisive game of this first-round series.

It was no surprise to the Pacers.

"We're planning for him to be here until we're told he's not going to be in there," coach Frank Vogel said shortly before the decision was made public. "I think he stayed in the vicinity of the bench."

Players who leave the "vicinity" of the bench during a fracas can be suspended under league rules.

Few, including Stu Jackson, the league's former disciplinarian, expected that to happen with George, who took two slow, short steps onto the court before he was pushed back by assistant coach Popeye Jones. Jackson wrote on Twitter that he didn't expect the league to suspend George, Indiana's best player and an All-Star starter.

Losing George would have been a major blow to the Pacers' comeback hopes.

George has topped 20 points in all six games, has double-doubles in five of them and has been the one Pacers' defender able to slow down quick, shifty Hawks guard Jeff Teague. And it was George and David West who saved the Pacers season with a late Thursday night in Atlanta, too.

All the league's best regular season home team must do now to reach the second round and avoid the distinction of becoming the sixth No. 1 seed in league history to be eliminated in the first round is protect its home court. Lately, that's been a problem.

"My thing is that three of the last four times we've played these guys (in Indy), they built 20-point leads and beat us pretty good," Vogel said. "So I don't think anyone from this team can think we're going to be OK just because we're back home."

The eighth-seeded Hawks understand.

They had a chance to wrap up the best-of-seven series at home and rallied from a nine-point deficit in the third quarter to take a five-point lead late in the fourth. Yet they still lost.

"We've responded well all year when we've been in difficult situations," coach Mike Budenholzer said Friday. "Part of our response is going to have to be better execution. I think we have a lot of positive reference points from all year. Our group has been very good and very resilient. I have a lot of confidence in our group."

But this is going to be different.

The Pacers, who spent all season chasing the Eastern Conference's top seed, expect a raucous crowd for the first Game 7 to be played at home in the franchise's NBA history. Plus, they appeared to find a defensive solution to Atlanta's spread offense by going small in Game 6.

The Hawks, meanwhile, have only a day to adjust to Vogel's new rotations and are on their own historic quest.

A win Saturday would give Atlanta the distinction of having the fewest regular-season wins (38) of any second-round team since Detroit's 36-win team beat Milwaukee in the first round of the 1976 playoffs, according to STATS.

"We've won on that floor before, so we know we can do it," Teague said. "We just have to go out there and do what we do and play our style of basketball, and it will take care of itself."

George has plenty of motivation after a stressful week that included ceding home-court advantage for the second time in the series, losing his 2014 All-Star ring in a burglary that took place while he was playing Game 5, two elimination games and speculation that his 24th birthday celebration might be marred by the announcement of a one-game suspension.

There's only one thing that really would help him relax - getting a second straight win and setting up a second-round date with Washington.

"Now It's about getting it done," George said. "We should be ready for this moment."

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Pacers roll past Hawks, 92-80 in Game 7

By MICHAEL MAROTPosted May 04 2014 2:39AM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Indiana salvaged its season Saturday by reverting to form: its first-half form.

Paul George scored a career playoff-high 30 points, Lance Stephenson added 19 and Roy Hibbert finally came up big against the more nimble Atlanta Hawks as the Pacers survived a first-round scare with a 92-80 victory in the decisive seventh game.

Two days after staving off elimination in Atlanta, the top-seeded Pacers did it again and advanced to a second-round series against Washington that starts Monday in Indiana.

"We know what we want to get to and we know what our journey is," George said.

Though they have a quick turnaround, at least the Pacers get a brief respite from the problems and distractions that lingered during the series.

Indiana, the NBA's best home team during the regular season, twice gave away home-court advantage by losing Games 1 and 5. Those losses sparked public debate about what needed to change in the offseason and whether coach Frank Vogel would even return if the Pacers became the sixth No. 1 seed to lose in the first round since the league went to its current 16-team playoff format.

Atlanta's spread offense and 3-point shooters had Indiana's normally stout defense scrambling for answers after the Hawks took a 3-2 lead Monday night.

Hibbert, an All-Star center, was a non-factor with just 20 points in the first six games combined.

George spent the week dealing with a burglary at his home and the possibility of a Game 7 suspension.

None of it mattered Saturday.

George sparked the two biggest runs of the game, finished 11 of 23 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds for a league-leading sixth double-double in the playoffs.

Stephenson added nine rebounds and five assists, and wiggled his hips after a game-clinching dunk with 80 seconds to go. Hibbert awoke from his recent slumber with 13 points, seven rebounds and five blocks.

Indiana's regular starters won back-to-back games for the first time since mid-March, rallying from a 3-2 deficit to win a series for the first time in franchise history.

"We know that when he is locked in offensively, his defense is off the charts. That's when he becomes special," George said of Hibbert. "I thought he was very special for us."

The Pacers got back to using their size advantage, beating Atlanta 55-38 on the glass, yet still found a way to limit the Hawks to 11 of 44 from 3-point range. The 44 attempts broke the NBA's single-game playoff record (42) set by Dallas in a double-overtime game in May 2003.

George also managed to slow down the shifty Jeff Teague.

Kyle Korver led the Hawks with 19 points and Teague had 16. Paul Millsap added 15 points and 17 rebounds - not enough for Atlanta to become the team with the fewest regular-season wins (38) to reach the second round since Detroit's 36-win team in 1976.

"We had a good number of very good looks, good opportunities, and that's a big part of the game," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "You have to make some shots, and tonight we weren't able to do it at the rate that we needed to."

For the first time in the series, Indiana made it look easy.

The teams traded leads seven times early in the second quarter, and then the Pacers' defense got stingy. It didn't allow Atlanta to make a basket over the final 6:12 of the first half, using a 14-2 run to take control with a 47-36 halftime lead that ended with Ian Mahinmi's clean block as Teague drove in for a dunk at the buzzer.

The Pacers opened the second half on a 10-4 spurt and took a 57-40 lead with 8:10 to go when George Hill completed a three-point play. Atlanta never recovered from the 24-6 run.

"We just couldn't score for a good, long stretch," Korver said. "In the second half, we had the mindset that we would go out guns blazing. I think we got a little too 3-happy and shot maybe a few too many. When you don't make them, it creates long rebounds and they took those and got out and ran."

The Hawks twice cut the deficit to eight late in the third, but George opened the fourth with six straight points in a 9-1 run. Atlanta never got closer than 10 again.

"We're happy to get over this hump," George said, "and get ready for the next task."

Notes: Indiana played Game 7 at home for the first time in its NBA history. ... Atlanta is 2-3 all-time in Game 7s since the franchise moved from St. Louis. ... The 14-point margin was Indiana's second-largest victory margin in Game 7, trailing only a 27-point win at Boston in 2005. ... Indiana set a franchise playoff record with 13 blocks.

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Pacers 92, Hawks 80

THE FACT: This was Indiana's first home Game 7 in the franchise's NBA history. Atlanta fell to 0-9 in Game 7s on the road.

THE LEAD: Suffocating defense, strong post presence and timely scoring -- the traits that had been missing from Indiana's identity the past two months -- returned in force as the top-seeded Pacers took control from the outset to eliminate eighth-seeded Atlanta 92-80 in Game 7 of their first-round NBA Playoff series Saturday before a sellout crowd of 18,165 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Paul George scored a postseason career-high 30 points and added 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the series to lead the Pacers into an Eastern Conference semifinals matchup with Washington beginning Monday in Indianapolis. Kyle Korver scored 19 to lead Atlanta, which shot just .304 overall and 11-for-44 (.250) from the 3-point line.

QUOTABLE: "Paul George really carried us for a lot of the game on the offensive end. He's a gamer. The bigger the stakes, the better he's going to play." -- Indiana coach Frank Vogel

THE STAT: Atlanta set NBA playoff records for 3-point attempts in a game (44 in Game 7) and a seven-game series (230), as well as a record for 3-pointers made in a 7-game series (79).

TURNING POINT: A four-point play by Korver put Atlanta head 32-29 with 9:34 left in the first half. That would be the Hawks' last 3-pointer for nearly 18 minutes as the Indiana defense took over. Atlanta missed 19 of its next 21 shots as the Pacers rolled up a 28-8 run bridging intermission to forge a 57-40 lead. The Hawks had one last surge, cutting it to 73-64 early in the fourth quarter but George hit consecutive buckets to get the Pacers rolling on a 13-4 counterpunch that put it away.

QUOTABLE II: "At some point, something had to give as far as them having the legs to make jumpers. I just thought we grinded them down so much throughout this series that when you get to a Game 7, those jump shots just weren't falling." -- George

HOT: After shooting 10-for-33 in the first six games, Roy Hibbert shot 6-for-10 and had his best game by far with 13 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots. ... Lance Stephenson was 8-for-12. ... Korver was 5-for-10 from the arc for Atlanta.

NOT: Jeff Teague shot 5-for-16 for the Hawks. ... Paul Millsap missed his first nine shots and wound up 6-for-21. ... Pero Antic missed all five of his shots and was 7-for-42 (.167) for the series, including 3-for-25 (.120) from the 3-point line.... Aside from Korver, Atlanta's starters combined to go 0-for-15 from the arc.

QUOTABLE III: "It goes without saying it's a tough loss but the way our group competed and the way they carried themselves in this series is something the coaches, players and organization can be very proud of." -- Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer

NOTABLE: Stephenson had his second double-double of the series with 19 points and 14 rebounds. ....George Hill scored 15. ... Indiana recovered from a 3-2 deficit to win a playoff series for the first time in franchise history. ... Atlanta's .304 shooting was the lowest ever allowed in the postseason by the Pacers. ... Indiana also had a franchise-record 13 blocks and tied the mark with 55 rebounds. ... George had 17 steals and 284 minutes in the series, both franchise records. ... David West had a playoff career-high six blocked shots. ... Stephenson had his third technical foul of the postseason, four away from a mandatory suspension. ... Atlanta shot .385 overall, the lowest ever allowed by the Pacers in a seven-game series.

UP NEXT: For the Pacers, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal series against Washington is Monday in Indianapolis, with Game 2 on Wednesday. Game 3 is Friday at Washington.